Saratoga Post Mortem

(SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY – September 6, 2010) Each morning of the Saratoga meet, at about 10:30 am, before the admission gates opened and after the breakfast people left the premises, NYRA CEO Charlie Hayward would gather his key department chiefs in a circle for a 15-minute powwow outside his offices.

Meetings like this are productive for reasons of maintaining a team spirit; every good business conducts them. But they are often unrealistic because nobody involved wants to appear ill-prepared or, heavens forbid, situation responsible. Consequently, the truth of a condition rarely comes out.

The meeting Hayward has to have now that the 40 days of Saratoga are over is one with his pillow. And then the one after that should be with his feelings. If there’s a man in horse racing that faces as many challenges or bears as much responsibility for the future of the sport, he must be hiding. Here’s hoping, too, that Hayward isn’t hiding from reality.

The 2010 Saratoga season succeeded on several fronts. But it was successful only when you frame it in context of the industry’s health. NYRA will end the meet down in attendance and on-track and all sources handle, facing problems in key areas such as NYC OTB bankruptcy and the construction of a casino at Aqueduct. Although there is reason to believe that these problems will be handled expediently, having an unreasonable trust in the work of others hasn’t served racing’s lead franchise well.

Double Day Downer

(SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY – August 30, 2010) It was such a disappointing weekend in Saratoga. Yes, disappointing. Horse racing needs long-running story lines, not one act dramas. The Travers and Personal Ensign Stakes shone brightly for the split seconds that ended them. But what happens next? That’s the issue.

The sport seems to be plagued by disappearances. It benefits the most when marquee events are won by horses of sustainable fame. In recent years, races such as the Kentucky Derby, which have the potential to launch long careers in the public spotlight, have been held without the best horses, thus granting the responsibility of stardom to pretenders like Giacomo and Mine That Bird. The Spa’s Double Day celebration, too, produced nothing in the way of future relevance. It’s too bad because that’s what’s required of the rare moments of great anticipation.

The Travers was hurt by two defections, that of Lookin at Lucky and the Belmont Stakes winner Drosselmeyer. Each year the prognosticators foretell of a Midsummer Derby that will serve as the epitome of three-year-old racing, and each year the race seems to develop in ways that are less than desired. With its earlier date, the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth seems to have had the better recent record for luring the division’s top performers. Summer often finds a way to reveal the strains of a Triple Crown campaign. By the time the last week of August rolls around, all that seems to be left are horses in search of identity.

Coming Not Very Soon to a Theater Near You

I've seen "Secretariat," and now the next racing film that should be made is about John Henry. Miss Kratchnut, take a letter. Address it to Harry Mogul, c/o Titanic Pictures, Hollywood, California.

"Dear Harry:

"Consider this a pitch for the next great horse racing movie. It's about John Henry, the grand old man of racing. You might remember him. Unwanted many times over, he finally was sold to a naive bicycle salesman who paid $25,000 and then watched him earn $6.5 million. John Henry had the legs of a broken-down chorus girl, the heart of Tyrannosaurus rex. He was not, as they like to say about horses on the backstretch, a pleasure to be around. He survived on oats and fingers. If you were ever caught in a stall with him, your first call was to a paramedic, your second to a mortician. If you had an apple in your hand, you might have stood a chance.

"John Henry didn't hit his prime until his senior years. He was Horse of the Year at seven, and again at nine. The key people in his life were an Irish trainer, an Irish veterinarian, an assistant trainer from Chile and an exercise rider who was Italian. I would suggest an international cast. Working title: John Henry. Overseas, you can call it Jacques Henri.

Baffert Mails Them In

When two of Bob Baffert's trainees, Richard's Kid and El Brujo, won a pair of Grade 1 races at Del Mar, their peerless conditioner was 3,000 miles across the country, tending to his stock at Saratoga (where he won a Grade 3 stake). Before he left California for New York, Baffert took the time to join the trashers of Del Mar's Polytrack racing surface, which has accounted for at least five deaths this season. The irony, of course, is that Richard's Kid and El Brujo get along swimmingly over Polytrack, and their latest efforts have made everyone in their camp $780,000 richer. Baffert's share is an estimated $78,000. I don't doubt for a moment that he will cash the check.

Vindication for Quality Road; Here Comes Ben Gets His Stripes

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY

September 4, 2010

Dear Diary,

Forget the Whitney, this was more like it.

In the Whitney a month ago, the sensationally fast Quality Road set a dawdling pace, letting his competition into the fray, including the eventual winner, Blame.

The narrow defeat cost him the protem lead among this country’s older horses, which may be his again after his comprehensive 4-¾ length victory in the Woodward at weight for age.

“I certainly think we can make a strong argument,” said winning trainer Todd Pletcher. “He’s accomplished a lot this year with the Donn, the Met Mile, and this race. He’s certainly put himself in a position, if he wins the next one.”

The next one is the Breeders Cup Classic, where he is expected to meet recent conqueror Blame at equal weights. Blame, who was getting from five pounds from Quality Road while beating him by a head in the Whitney, will race next in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park, October 2.

“The plan all along has been to go from here to the Breeders’ Cup Classic,” Pletcher explained. “We’ll have his next-to-last work at Belmont Park and his final work at Churchill. So we’ll probably go to Churchill Downs 12 or 13 days out.”

That’s Plan A, just like the one he mapped out for winning the Woodward. “[Arcodoro] showed enough pace that we were able to maneuver outside him and get the trip we wanted. It went exactly like we talked about it in the paddock.”

Servicing Bettors’ Needs Is the Bottom Line

Unlike the days when I regularly covered racing as a Newsday columnist and its lead handicapper, I’m pretty much a weekend warrior except during the Saratoga race meet.

Wherever I am, Saturday is a Holy Day of Prognostication.

I make no other plans, needing to be at the racetrack or simulcast facility. If I’m not, someone either had the bad taste to get married on a Saturday or I’ve died, in which case I wouldn‘t even be alive in the double.

Saturdays, such as today’s card featuring two Grade 1s; the Woodward, not a great betting race, and the Forego, a real head-scratcher.

Cards that feature high class races generally are more difficult as there generally are not as many easily eliminated no-hopers. Chaos is difficult and time consuming to deal with, but the reward often is more than commensurate with the risk.

I prefer the vertical pools; exactas, trifectas, superfectas. Sorry, no Super 5 spoken here. It’s not that I have an aversion to the “all” button, it’s just that I have too much respect for my bankroll.

Besides, here’s the rule: The cleaner the punch, the better the value.

Rocky VII

I recall a story of a recent defeat that was more disheartening and sickening than a Lady Gaga display — caught at the wire with thousands of fans hanging like icicles on every stride.

I watched the race from atop a chair in the restaurant at which I worked. I told my tables that, to loosely reference “Good Will Hunting,” ‘I had to see about a colt.”

It was the 2004 Belmont Stakes. That’s right. Smarty Jones. This guy had no problem getting 10 furlongs. In all honesty, he had no problem getting 12 furlongs.

Right now he’s having a hard time getting laid.

Once upon a time his stud fee was $100,000. When Birdstone, the horse who beat him in the Belmont Stakes, went to stud he sold his swimmers for $10,000. Paul Krugman take note: don’t follow the Dow, follow Smarty’s stud fee.

The Irish Car Bomb

The Irish Car Bomb

What he’s doing is harder than the Triple Crown.

What he’s doing is harder than Elin Nordegren in divorce court.

What’s he’s doing is harder than a day in the sweat box with a rubber suit and the company of Rush Limbaugh.

He’s Paddy O’Prado and he’s one win away from winning the Grand Slam of Grass.

This is hitting a single off the Rays, a double off the Cardinals, a triple off the Red Sox, and a home run against the Yankees. This is seven Tour de France’s in a row ... only more impressive.